


Knock Knock

by Syarue



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Cute, Fluff, I'm Bad At Tagging, JOSH IS AN ASSHOLE, Josh saved Tyler, Kissing, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Mild Language, Neighbors, Nightmares, Tea, but actually he's a sweetheart, incorrect quote, joshler - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-05 01:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15853416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syarue/pseuds/Syarue
Summary: “Hi,” he says. The audacity.“Hi,” Josh repeats, not even attempting to hide the annoyance.“I can’t sleep,” he proclaims. Tyler Joseph doesn’t seem to catch on to Josh’s disinterest and irritation, or maybe he doesn’t care. Yes, he definitely doesn’t care. He never cared.“I can,” Josh comments. “Goodnight,” and he’s about to slam the door close but is stopped by a desperate hand that holds the door from cutting off the conversation.“Please,” pleads Tyler.Inspired by an incorrect quote post by overheardpilots on Tumblr





	Knock Knock

**Author's Note:**

> This cute lil nothing is based on a post I saw on Tumblr that had me rofl  
> I hope you like it, so enjoy!
> 
> (The depiction of violence is not as graphic as you may expect, but consider yourself warned)

_Knock knock._

It’s 1 in the morning. Who could possibly _knock knock_ on his door? Josh ignores the feeble sound, hoping whoever it is to go away although he isn’t planning on sleeping anytime soon.

_Knock knock._

Wow, there it is again. That is some tenacious bastard, Josh thinks to himself, as he sets down the book he was reading and walks toward the door grumbling. He swings it open a bit more aggressively than he intended.

Tyler Joseph is standing behind it.

“Hi,” he says. The audacity.

“ _Hi_ ,” Josh repeats, not even attempting to hide the annoyance.

“I can’t sleep,” he proclaims. Tyler Joseph doesn’t seem to catch on to Josh’s disinterest and irritation, or maybe he doesn’t care. Yes, he definitely doesn’t care. He never cared.

“I can,” Josh comments. “Goodnight,” and he’s about to slam the door close but is stopped by a desperate hand that holds the door from cutting off the conversation.

“Please,” pleads Tyler. There’s this irresistible gleam in the guy’s eyes that pokes at his conscience. He looks pretty shaken up. But Josh isn’t going to let it get the best of him because that’s just how it is. Or is he?

“Shit,” he curses out loud. Just this one time.

Tyler slips inside in relief as Josh grumpily closes the door behind him. He takes a look around, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, before sitting on the couch without even asking. Josh rolls his eyes.

“What do you want?” Josh demands. He’s shown enough hospitality by letting his neighbor in his house at 1am. He ain’t gonna go all soft on him and offer tea and stuff.

“Tea,” answers Tyler, calmly. Seriously?

“That’s not what I meant,” Josh rubs his face out of frustration but somehow finds himself fetching a mug from the cupboard. Something’s wrong with this situation, but he can’t seem to stop. Blame Tyler Joseph and that look in his eyes.

“Oh,” he hears Tyler say. “I couldn’t sleep so I needed to come over and collect myself.”

Waiting for the water to boil, Josh pokes his head out from the kitchen to stare at the intruder. “Why would you come to _me_?”

“Because you live next door and you were awake,” he explains. “And you’re nice.” Goddamn it, Josh wants to scrub the shy smile off the guy’s face. It makes him feel weird inside his ribcage and he decides he doesn’t like it at all.

“How did you know I was awake?” Josh clears his throat, disregarding the strange sensation.

Tyler blinks. “You’re never asleep. I can hear you drumming every night.”

Oh. He almost forgot that the walls were way too thin in this apartment, Yes, Josh would practice on his electronic drum set (with the sound only coming through his headphones, of course) late at night instead of doing whatever an ordinary insomniac would do at that hour, but it never occurred to him that his neighbor would be hearing all that stuff. So then it dawns on him that maybe he’s the reason why Tyler looks sleep deprived with bags under his eyes. Maybe he gave Josh a visit saying ‘I can’t sleep’ to lay a guilt trip on him.

“Wait, it’s not you,” adds Tyler quickly, seeing Josh’s puzzled face. “I enjoy your drumming and I could sleep listening to it just fine. It’s something else.”

The way Tyler meets his eyes like he’s waiting for Josh to ask what that ‘something else’ is, has Josh hiding behind the wall. Nope, not gonna give him the satisfaction. Instead, he focuses on the chamomile tea that he’s making. Until he realizes he’s out of chamomile tea bags.

“Uh, hey,” calls Josh, scratching the back of his head. “I’m out of tea. Would you like coffee instead?”

There’s silence and then some shuffling noise from the living room. Josh nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees Tyler standing behind him in the kitchen.

“Are you asking if I want coffee when I came to you because I couldn’t sleep?” he looks amused.

Josh immediately feels like a total moron. Right, coffee at 1am would be absurd in any situation. And to offer it to someone who couldn’t sleep would be idiotic, insulting, even.

“Look,” Josh angrily says, coming to the realization that he’d been acting out of character in the first place, trying to make Tyler Joseph a cup of tea and all. “Why are you doing this to me? I prevent you from being mugged once, and you think I’m suddenly your best friend? Parent? Did I imprint on you like-like you’re a duckling or what?” He tries not to feel sorry when Tyler takes a tiny step back from apprehension.

“Josh,” and Josh cringes when he hears his name on Tyler’s tongue. “You literally _saved_ my life. I could _only_ feel safe around you.”

“I’m being a total dick to you! How am I making you feel safe??” he throws his hands in the air.

“Yeah, I know you’re being a dick,” he smiles. He _smiles_. “But behind all that ‘mean, tough’ mask, you’re a very sweet person. I know it.”

“You don’t know me.”

“Yes I do,” Tyler insists. “I know you don’t have friends.”

Wow. That hurt.

“Why, thank you. If you’re sticking around out of charity—“

“I’m not. I genuinely like you. As a person. And I want to be your friend. And spend time together.” There it is again, the irresistible gleam in his eyes. Josh growls in his mind. But he can’t find the right words to say because it’s very awkward for him.

“Is that jasmine tea back there?” Tyler points out, looking past Josh’s conflicted face.

Thank God, it’s jasmine tea. There are two tea bags left in the box.

 

* * *

 

Tyler is on the couch swaddled in Josh’s old blanket, the one with spaceships and planets. Josh thinks to himself that he looks like a cocoon with only the head and hands barely sticking out of it. He eyes the odd creature take a contented sip from the red mug.

“I think I’m feeling better, thanks,” says Tyler, although Josh never asked.

“How about sleepy?”

He tilts his head, pondering it. “Not quite yet.”

Josh stops himself from letting out a sigh and takes a gulp from his own cup. _Shit!_ He screams in his mind. He burned his tongue. He quickly looks up at Tyler, hoping the little man in the cocoon didn’t notice the mini spasm. Fortunately, Tyler appears to be lost in thought.

“How long are you going to stay here?” Josh can’t help asking.

“Until I fall asleep,” replies Tyler.

“ _What?_ ” Josh jumps to his feet, meets the unmoving gaze of Tyler Joseph, feels the awkwardness settling in, and then sinks back in his green armchair. “You can’t sleep here,” he sternly shakes his head.

“Why not?”

“Because…Because it’s _my goddamn home_ , you idiot! My home, my rules.”

“I’m-I’m sorry, it’s just…,” Tyler falters, eyes darting elsewhere. There is a change about his atmosphere like he’s afraid of something or on the verge of tears. Or both. Josh feels panic rising in his chest because he has no clue what to do. He shouldn’t feel burdened. He really shouldn’t!

“What is it?” Josh finally asks the question he had been dreading to ask.

Tyler abruptly looks up, and his eyes are really watery, edges tinged with a bit of red. Oh no. “I…had a nightmare.”

Josh purses his lips. “Really? A nightmare? What are you, seven?” He feels stupid for having tensed up for some reason.

“No, you don’t get it,” his voice indignant, Tyler sets the mug down on the table in front of him. “It felt _so_ real. I thought it _was_ real. I thought I was actually _dying_.”

“Okay, I don’t know the context, so fill me in on what happened, or whatever.”

Tyler leans back and adjusts the blanket around his body so that now only his face and neck are visible above the bundle of fluffy material. Josh tries to ignore the fact that his disheveled brown hair looks remarkably fluffy as well.

“Um, I came home late today, around 12:15 or so and I went to bed right away because I was tired,” he starts. “That’s where the bad dream started. You know about lucid dreams? It’s those dreams where you can tell that you’re in a dr—“

“Yes, I know what a lucid dream is,” confirms Josh, swatting the air.

“Okay,” he nods. “So in the dream, I was exactly where I was in real life, lying on my bed and trying to get some sleep. But then I heard a noise in the living room.” He halts right there, maybe not for a dramatic effect, but unintentionally creating one.

“It was the mugger. The mugger that you saved me from two weeks ago. He came into my room and found me, but I was paralyzed,” Tyler is visibly shaking at this point, albeit subtly. Josh can’t even cast a comment on that because the guy is obviously far more stressed out than he can fathom.

“I knew it was a dream, but I couldn’t move, wake up, or even close my eyes. I could only stare at him bringing out a switchblade above me.” His gaze flickers to Josh and Josh gulps.

“…Did he…?” asks Josh vaguely.

“Yes,” Tyler quietly affirms. A hand pops out from under the blanket and it picks at the stray strands on top of his head. “It’s…It felt too real. The agonizing pain of metal cutting through my skin. Trust me, it was _asphyxiating_. The worst part is, he didn’t go straight for my heart. He stabbed randomly until one of the strikes landed on my throat and I woke up.”

Light nausea sweeps over Josh as he listens to Tyler numbly describing his dream. The shit is gruesome as hell even though Tyler doesn’t add too much detail on it. What makes it worse is that it could truly have happened in that night two weeks ago if Josh hadn’t spotted the mugger advancing Tyler in an alley a few blocks away from their apartment. He had taken care of the situation and soon the police were there to drive the criminal with five previous convictions away with them. He had not given the event much thought (although ever since then this guy suspiciously tagged along behind him rather frequently), but apparently, Tyler here was traumatized by it be it subconsciously.

“Well,” Josh fumbles for words. He already feels like a piece of shit from how he reacted previously. “I’m, uh, sorry…”

“Yeah. I’m sorry for me, too,” he softly laughs. “Anyways I couldn’t stay there because I would constantly be reminded of the scene, the pain, the everything so I knocked on your door. As expected, you’ve been so sweet.”

Guilt pressures him. Josh was not the standard sweet guy. He had been an asshole, to be exact. Yet Tyler is sitting there, messing up his own hair and throwing a sunshiny smile at him. The weird sensation inside his ribcage revisits Josh.

Because Josh doesn’t respond (not like he doesn’t want to, but-), Tyler drops his hand from his hair and the smile slowly fades away. “I’m sorry, though. Your home, your rules. I should go.” And like that, he unwraps the blanket around him while Josh watches him dumbfounded.

“W-wait. T—” quickly catching himself before he almost calls out his neighbor’s name, “uh, dude. Where are you gonna go?” Josh sets his cup down and stands up.

Tyler looks lost, hands grasping the edge of the blanket and eyes fixed on his lap. “Dunno. A motel, maybe? I can’t stand going back. Not tonight.”

And then he decisively scrambles to his feet, carefully folding the blanket before laying it on the couch. The clock reads 2:01 am.

“Are you nuts? It’s way too late to go outside,” Josh says. He doesn’t understand the beating of the heart that resounds inside his skull. He doesn’t understand the ominous cloud that claws at his mind. No, he can’t possibly be _worried_ about this string bean of a man.

“I can handle myself,” Tyler states.

“You don’t know that! You couldn’t protect yourself from one mugger! Who knows what else is out there?”

“Well, what do you suggest I do? I can’t stay here, or at my place. Want me to sleep in the hallway?” Tyler begins to sound a little pissed off.

“No!” he shouts.

“Then what?” Tyler crosses his arms.

“I…,” Josh feels so angry, but he can’t bring himself to say it. He’s so angry at himself about everything. He hates the world.

“Alright, I’m going. Goodnight, Josh. It was nice of you to let me stay,” Tyler’s voice softens a little, but there is still a cold air to it.

Just when he is about to reach for the doorknob, Josh’s tongue betrays him.

_“Youcanstayhereifyouwant!”_

Tyler stops dead in his tracks. Slowly turning, his twinkling eyes meet Josh’s soulless set. That’s it. Josh’s soul has left his body. His face is the color of strawberry flavored Jell-O and the brain behind it has turned to a mush of pudding, nothing else. The neurons failed altogether. He’s just a shell of the man he was a second ago.

“What was that?” Tyler’s delighted question snaps him back to reality.

Josh hides his scarlet face behind his hands. “You heard me,” he mumbles miserably.

“I sure did,” giggles Tyler.

Before Josh can react, Tyler throws his arms around his shoulders and it takes a moment for him to realize that this is a hug. Josh freezes in his spot, but regains his senses and pats Tyler’s back in an uncertain manner.

“Thank you, Josh,” Tyler whispers and then pulls away. He’s all smiles and Josh’s unrestrainable, balky heart responds wildly to that. However, he simply grunts as an answer.

“You can take the bed—it’s in my room over there. I’ll, um, sleep on the couch,” he almost can’t believe he’s saying this. The amount of sacrifice he’s done tonight is going to give him a hangover in the morning (if that even makes sense).

“No, I can’t do that. I’ll be fine on the couch. It’s your home.”

“Hey,” Josh growls. “I said take the bed.”

Tyler stares at him for a second. “Ookay, tough guy. I can’t tell whether or not you’re being hospitable.” He lets out a laugh.

Josh doesn’t know what to say so he picks up the blanket and settles down on the couch. Tyler shifts uneasily until he turns toward the bedroom on the right.

“Goodnight, Josh. For real, this time,” he doesn’t forget to say.

“Night,” Josh manages to croak out. He closes his eyes and he can hear Tyler slipping under the covers of his bed.

After a long static silence, Tyler speaks. “Aren’t you gonna turn off the lights?”

“No.”

“…’kay.”

A longer silence. Josh can’t put his busy mind to sleep. He feels grumpy, perplexed, and tired at the same time. Look at the mess the string bean has made in his mind.

“…um, Josh?” Tyler’s voice softly echoes from the room again.

“What,” he kindly answers.

“Can you…can you just come here? There’s a lot of space on your bed,” his tone is shaky.

Josh’s brain may as well have imploded right there and then. What the fuck? Tyler wants him and Josh to sleep on the same bed? What the hell? Is he really _that_ scared of the dream? Or is he implying something else? Josh’s heart races at a velocity of 120 mph. A million different thoughts flash across his mind.

“You’re kidding,” is all he is able to say.

The apartment goes quiet again. Not even crickets are chirping at this hour. Josh is suddenly very aware of every little noise that is filling up the space, starting from the ticking of clocks to his own breaths. The sound of Tyler tossing and turning fitfully in his bed doesn’t help much in guiding him to sleep.

“Josh,” Tyler calls for him yet again. He sounds five times more desperate than before. Josh’s heartbeat picks up speed at the voice. “Please.”

He wants to ignore the plea more than anything, but he’s already standing up. And then he’s at the bed.

“I can’t believe this,” he mutters under his breath as he carefully tucks himself in, lying as far away as possible from Tyler so that if he turns to his side he could easily tumble off the bed.

“Thank you,” Tyler sighs.

“Just be gone by daylight,” Josh harshly snaps.

Sleep seeps in his brain, at last, leaving him drowsy, just on the brink of zoning out. But again, Tyler Joseph just can’t seem to not present him with more surprises.

“Can I kiss you?”

An icy sensation travels down his spine, and his eyes shoot open. Josh’s heart is beating so erratically and fast that he’s afraid it might malfunction altogether at some point. How could Tyler sound so nonchalant saying it? Josh starts to wonder if he had actually heard it or if he’d just dreamed it up. He’s half-convinced that it was a dream until he hears Tyler’s apologetic voice again.

“Sorry, I w—”

This is not Josh. This is just the primal soul inside acting on instinct. Josh is over Tyler, grabbing both sides of his cheeks and ferociously boring into his baffled eyes.

“Sorry for what?” Josh intones. “There’s a ton of things you should be sorry for, Tyler.” He doesn’t even realize that he had just called his neighbor by his name for the first time.

“Josh, I—”

“No, this is not where you talk. You want to kiss?” Josh asks, cocking his head.

Tyler looks dazed but eventually nods, a faint smile upon his lips.

“Then so be it.”

 

Josh’s tongue burns a little more.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading:)  
> I had so much fun writing it haha  
> Please leave your thoughts in the comments below!  
> I might create another account dedicated to Joshler but until then, I'll be uploading here.  
> Love ya folks♥


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